J.D. Sitton, President and CEO, Infinia (Kennewick)

J.D. Sitton, CEO of Kennewick-based Infinia, has led the solar energy technology company from a research-driven firm to one on the brink of commercialization.

J.D. Sitton arrived at what was known at the time as Stirling Technology, a company that had been living on research grants but faced considerable questions about its technology, financing and leadership.

Today, that Kennewick business is known as Infinia. Any conversation about the companies around the globe that could turn solar energy into a viable, commercial scale industry is likely to include it.

Infinia’s technology combines the Stirling engine, which generates energy through temperature differences between gases in separate chambers or compartments, with a solar collector that resembles a large old satellite TV dish, to produce electricity.

The company has landed millions of dollars in private investments from the likes of Paul Allen, has lined up former auto-parts suppliers to produce its generators and has begun commercial deployment of these generators. Infinia also had to navigate the abrupt cancellation of a contract with NASA, which was studying the concept for deep-space exploration projects.

Credit for transformation of the company goes to Sitton, who joined Infinia in 2002. “He was the right guy at the right time,” says one Tri-Cities business leader. “He has a lot of strengths, a lot of vision.”

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